I already kind of have a list in mind, but I would like to know of any other schools that may potentially match my profile and desires
Asian-Indian Male, Competitive State, Lived in India for middle school, Very competitive, rigorous, private high-school (#2 in state, #70 in nation)
OBJECTIVE:
SAT - 1530. Retaking.
ACT - 34. Retaking.
SAT II - 800 Math 2, 780 Physics
GPA UW - 94/100 or 3.9/4
GPA W - N/A
RANK - N/A (I only know of about 7 or maybe 8 or 9 people in a class of 74 that have a higher gpa than me, but I don’t know for sure because my school does not rank and will not give colleges our ranks)
APs: Spanish Lang - 4, English Lang - 4, APCSA - 5
SENIOR YEAR COURSES - AP Chem, AP Micro, AP Gov, AP Calc AB, Lit, Art Electives
This is considered a rigorous course load for my school, not the most rigorous, but definitely second or third most or so.
SUBJECTIVE:
Extracurriculars (In order of appearance on CommonApp):
President of large Social Justice club: We put on productions like an annual MLK assembly, screen films, organize guest speakers (Had the professor of African Studies at Emory U speak for us this year), etc. As President I manage all of these productions, assign tasks, etc. In addition, as a result of my position, I've been called upon by my school's senior staff to sit in on board meetings and advise them on how to make a more culturally competent campus community and bring more diversity to our school (my school is very rich and is 85% white). I also interview prospective teachers to check for cultural competency. 9-12
Leader (AKA President) of Admissions Student Ambassador Program: Manage 100+ student ambassadors, responsible for info dispersion to them, getting them ready for events, training, delegating positions at school open house events, lead tour groups, etc. As President, I am the main link between prospective students and parents and the current student body. I am who any prospective families go to if they want answers from a current student. (Side question about this one: will colleges know what student ambassadors are without me having to explain it? Because I want to use my limited common app space to talk about my achievements in the activity instead of wasting time explaining what the program is.) 9-12
Editor-In-Chief of Yearbook: Enforce deadlines, delegate tasks, set artistic style and theme, hold everyone accountable for quality and deadlines, manage volunteer outreach, help lead a Middle School graphic design club to supplement the Yearbook production. 9-12
Freelance Blogger for The Hindu: The Hindu is the second most circulated English daily in India. Had an 1 month internship this past summer when I was in India, proposed, wrote, edited, and published multiple articles and blog posts on US Politics and Sports, I was asked to continue work for their online blog (which gets a lot of attention) throughout the school year on my own terms, which I accepted. 12
Internship for US Congresswoman from my State: Internship for very progressive Congresswoman, knocked on some 200+ doors and made some 500+ calls. Her progressive views align nicely with my background in social justice. The internship was originally unpaid, but I helped lead the charge to make it a paid opportunity, as many of my fellow interns were low income students from the local State university who were pursuing the internship at the expense of their financial wellbeing. Helped gather testimonies from my peers and craft a letter to the congresswoman which ended up procuring us pay for our work, though the story was picked up by the media and sadly used for slanderous purposes. 11-12
President of Aeronautics club: We design and engineer model planes. As president, I supply materials, decide on group projects and challenges, delegate tasks, educate new members on plane anatomy and physics, etc. We don't compete in any contests, we just have fun. 11-12
Squash: Player since age 7, currently nationally ranked, compete in gold tournaments across the nation, coach younger players. 9-12
Piano: Player since age 5, private lessons, solo performances in churches, school, and the like. 9-12
City Youth Council: Member my city's selective youth council, discuss topic such as food waste and homelessness and break into teams to create projects to address them like drives and fundraisers, and well as host an annual large diversity conference. 9-12
Supervisor for Boys and Girls club: The club I volunteer at helps primarily low-income, disadvantaged children. I have volunteered twice a week every week for the past 2 weeks. I am treated basically as if I have a leadership position, though I technically have no name for it. I have 100+ service hours at this one location, well over my school's graduation requirement. 11-12
RECS:
AP Lang Teacher, Calculus Teacher, plus a very high up person from my Newspaper.
You need to provide more information. Are you looking for suggestions for reaches, matches or safeties? Do you want to attend a large or small school? Do you want an urban or rural campus? What part of the country do you prefer for your university? What state are you from? Is cost a factor? Is Greek life or big time college sports important to you? Are you looking for financial aid, or can your parents pay for a full ride to a school that costs $70,000/year? One of the college search sites might be more useful to you to help you focus on which schools fit your interests and strengths.
Why are you retaking SAT/ACT? Theses are plenty good enough for any school. Your stats and ECs put you in the ballpark everywhere. Have a few reaches, lots of matches, and some guaranteed safeties.
I always wonder about this but with your scores and sat scores then why Calc AB? Why not BC? If you don’t have ab/BC sequence this to me is a red flag if your looking for rigor in your senior year. Lots of schools let the teacher pick whether you go into AB VS BC
You’re asking your readers to do a lot of “heavy lifting” when apparently you already have a preliminary list and just want validation that others starting from scratch will come to the same conclusions. Plus, as @Houston1021 , you’re giving no information about cost constraints, state of residency, etc.
How about giving at least three examples of schools that have already caught your interest?
Also, communications is a broad category. Are you interested in political/economic journalism? Or are you thinking more in terms of developing yourself as a public speaker and communicator for some sort of role in politics and policy?
@Knowsstuff My school is not that way. Here, you must take AB before BC, and APs maths are only open to Juniors and Seniors. I didnt take AB last year because I took other APs and my school has a limit, so Im taking it this year
@Houston1021@aquapt Here is wha I am looking for:
-Mild Climate and I enjoy seasons
-Obviously, good for the majors that I mentioned earlier
-East coast setting, or at least not west coast because I want to get out of here
-School culture doesn’t matter so much to me. However, I am a workaholic, but I also know how to have fun, so a culture that supports that would be nice but not absolutely necessary.
-Strong collaboration among students
-A school where STEM doesn’t feel dominant among the students (because that’s not what I plan on going into)
-Urban/Rural doesn’t matter a great amount to me, as I’ve lived in both settings and enjoy both of them. It should not be a dealbreaker for any school imo, but I guess if I had a choice I would go with an urban campus.
I would like to attend a small-medium sized school
@knowstuff “Rigor” in my senior year is not an issue. Im taking the absolute MOST rigorous courseload my school will allow. That stuff should be taken in context imo
You sound like a William & Mary kind of guy to me. East coast, mild but with seasons, mid-sized, not STEM-dominated, “work hard play hard” culture, strong in your areas of interest, and has a men’s squash program. https://www.wm.edu/as/charlescenter/donor-sponsored/sharpseminar/index.php (Would be a match ED, low-reach RD)
Others might be U of Richmond, and Davidson.
For reaches, Georgetown, Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, WashU, and Notre Dame.
There are also a ton of private colleges/U’s in PA that you might or might not want to consider. On the most elite end, the Quaker Consortium schools: Swarthmore, Haverford, and UPenn. At schools like Lafayette, Lehigh, Bucknell, Dickinson, F&M, etc. you would benefit from being considered URM by some schools, as well as offering geographic diversity; but the downside of a “diversity bump” is that you might find these schools less diverse than you’d prefer once you were there.
@aquapt has some spot pn suggestions. If you are good enough to be recruited, the Ivy’s have squash teams, but the climate is not mild there. There is always Stanford, but you may want to avoid the West Coast. Look at the list of schools with men’s squash teams and see which ones peak your interest. Most of the schools with men’s squash teams are also strong academically. https://csasquash.com/teams/
I strongly agree with @momofsenior1. Don’t retake your standardized tests. Those scores are 50th percentile+ at any American university. A retake only can cost more money, not help your chances significantly, or even hurt them if you manage to perform worse.
From the college side of things, take a look at Clemson for a safety/very low match. Also take a look at Sewanee if you’re looking to go the LAC route. You seem very liberal as well, although maybe I am misinterpreting that, but Macalester and Carleton fit with a liberal perspective. It’s very cold in Minnesota however. Notre Dame is prestigious yet fits in most of your requests. Check out UofMichigan.
Good luck in your search and ultimate journey to college! I hope you’re successful and find the place you’re looking for.